Sutton: In Hairston saga, finally some fast facts — if not much more

Published: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 12:18 AM.

Which mess does the University of North Carolina try to clean up first regarding P.J. Hairston?

It’s hard to find a way that the men’s basketball program comes out of this looking good.

Even with that, the indefinite suspension handed to Hairston on Sunday from coach Roy Williams might not mean all that much.

Games are more than three months away. A lot can change by then.

Hairston already has demonstrated that he doesn’t need much time to cause a bunch of commotion.

From a marijuana possession charge to a head-scratching situation involving a mysterious gun to questions about use of rental vehicles and the player’s association with a convicted felon, it didn’t seem possible to become much worst for Hairston and his basketball superiors with the Tar Heels.

Which mess does the University of North Carolina try to clean up first regarding P.J. Hairston?

It’s hard to find a way that the men’s basketball program comes out of this looking good.

Even with that, the indefinite suspension handed to Hairston on Sunday from coach Roy Williams might not mean all that much.

Games are more than three months away. A lot can change by then.

Hairston already has demonstrated that he doesn’t need much time to cause a bunch of commotion.

From a marijuana possession charge to a head-scratching situation involving a mysterious gun to questions about use of rental vehicles and the player’s association with a convicted felon, it didn’t seem possible to become much worst for Hairston and his basketball superiors with the Tar Heels.

Just how much more could Williams take?

Yet the program had little to gain by acting swiftly during the past month-plus as various transgressions and allegations were revealed regarding Hairston. Time was on its side.

Basically, Williams hid behind the convenient shield of waiting for all the facts to come out.

Then Sunday, when Hairston was charged with speeding and careless and reckless driving near Salisbury, there was a late-night release issued from the university announcing Hairston’s suspension from the team.

So while weeks passed since the Durham incident and the process of gathering of facts apparently is ongoing, it took mere hours to assess the situation and hand out a penalty during the weekend. Must be fact-finding missions move a little faster on a Sunday out of Rowan County.

Not really.

It just means that Williams is probably fed up with Hairston putting himself in these situations that are further tarnishing the program’s reputation.

From a basketball standpoint, it’s unclear if anything has been resolved. At some point, we’ll need an interpretation of what “indefinite” means in this saga.

■ Former Graham football coach Gary Moser reports that he’s doing well after a recent medical scare with a stint in Burlington’s hospital.

Moser, who’s a former North Carolina State football player, said he appreciated a telephone call during his hospitalization from new Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren.

■ Free-agent signee Mike Komisarek of the Carolina Hurricanes drew chuckles when acknowledging that he’s quite familiar with Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller. Muller was an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens when Komisarek played for that team.

In keeping in line with typical hockey-like nicknames, Komisarek referred to Muller as “Kirkie” when discussing his new coach.